The Centipede slithered closer. My watch beeped faster.
Rift expanding. Rift opening in 45 minutes.
Pain hammered through my skull. Heat spread beneath my skin — I was losing control.
It coiled around me, tightening its grasp, its limbs digging into my body like knives. Slowly, it lowered its head — mocking. It licked my face.
Every time I breathed, it squeezed harder, crushing my chest. My vision blurred. My body went numb. My head throbbed.
The watch screamed again.
Going into circulatory arrest.
Everything slipped — control, strength — fading like sand through my fingers. Whatever hold I had on it was gone. My thoughts slowed. My limbs refused to move.
Then —
Fire.
My body ignited.
Flames erupted from my skin. The air warped around me. The Centipede froze, then recoiled, its grip loosening as it pulled back.
I dropped to one knee.
Then stood.
I took a step forward. The pavement beneath my feet melted, leaving scorched prints with every stride. The city around me began to warp and dissolve.
The Centipede hissed, pulling back — not fast enough.
I moved.
My hand shot out and seized one of its limbs. It thrashed violently, but I pulled. The limb tore free. It shrieked.
I didn't stop.
Another limb — ripped out. Then another. And another. Each one came off easier than the last, its movements growing slower, weaker. Its massive body twisted in panic, desperate to escape, but I stayed with it, step for step, until only its head remained — twitching faintly.
I walked toward it, heat distorting the air between us.
For a moment, it stared at me.
I grabbed its antenna and pulled — slowly, deliberately — making it feel every inch of despair.
Green blood sprayed out, drenching me from head to toe.
I stood there, suspended in a trance. I couldn't feel any part of my body. It felt as if I were levitating.
My wounds were already healing when the watch tore me back to reality.
Rift opening in 10... 9... 8...
I yanked the Dirac needle from my hip pouch and ran. The ground that had seemed so close now felt like a mile away. My legs were numb. The watch kept counting down.
5... 4... 3...
I was close — so close I could see the monsters inside, grinning at me with gleeful malice, savoring my suffering. Then my legs gave out. I hit the ground hard.
I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself. I tried to stand. I couldn't. So I crawled — dragging myself inch by inch until I reached the edge of the Rift.
2... 1...
I drove the needle into the Rift. It began stitching the tear shut, threading it closed. The monsters inside clawed at the seams, desperate to unravel it — but they couldn't.
The Rift sealed with a deafening explosion. The shockwave hurled me backward and I crashed into the wall.
My entire body screamed with pain. My head was bleeding. I was bleeding from every orifice.
The watch beeped.
Rift closed.
Operative status: Critical. Administering basic first aid.
Dispatching evacuation request.
A sharp sting bit into my wrist — some kind of liquid injected directly into my veins. It was warm. Calming. The pain dulled. My wounds began, slowly, to close.
I sank into unconsciousness.
I didn't dream.
Nothing it was pitch black darkness
Then Sound.
The sound of the rotor blades of the VTOL pulled me back. My chest rose Fell then rose again.
Operative status: Critical. Basic stabilization complete. Evac ETA: four minutes.
The watch. Still on my wrist. Still talking.
I opened my eyes.
The sky above was dark. The park was silent now.
I turned my head slowly looking at the place where the rift had been. It was gone not even a trace.
The needle had worked.
I exhaled. A long shaking breath
I tried to sit up my body refused every part of my body was screaming at me to not move a inch so i obeyed laying there silently.
The thrum of the roots got louder.
It landed thirty meters away from me. The rear hatch opened before the landing struts were opened.
A figure jumped out.
Silas.
He crossed the distance quickly,
Dropping to one knee beside me. Without a word. He ran his gaze across my body.
"You look terrible," he said.
"You should see the centipede," I said.
He didn't smile, but something shifted in his jaw. Almost. He slid one arm beneath my shoulders.
"Don't," I said.
"You can't walk."
"Watch me.".
I pushed myself upright
I pushed myself upright. My vision swam violently — the ruins spinning, the ash streaks blurring into long white lines. I planted one foot. Then the other. I stood.
I took one step.
Then another..
Silas walked beside me close enough to catch me if I fell. He didn't say anything.
We boarded the VTOL.
I collapsed onto the seat and said nothing for a long time. The VTOL lifted I looked out the window seeing the shrinking image of Carcer City.
Silas sat across from me forearms resting on his knees, watching me with that same unreadable expression he wore in the arena.
"The needle worked," I said finally.
"Miller will be pleased."
"Is that all you've got?"
Silas was quiet for a moment. "It's your first deployment. You closed the rift. You're alive." He paused. "That's more than the last three operatives who went to Carcer City."
looked at him. He held my gaze steadily, no drama in it. Just fact.
I turned back to the window.
Something was nagging at me. A thread I couldn't stop pulling at. I replayed the fight — the creature mimicking a human, the voice from the rubble. The way it had said my name.
My grip tightened on the armrest.
"Silas."
"Mm."
"That thing. The class-3. It spoke." I paused. "It used my name."
The silence that followed was a fraction too long.
"They're mimics," Silas said. "Class-3s replicate auditory signals they've absorbed. Voices. Words. It doesn't mean anything."
"It said my name specifically"
"It can look through your surface memories like name and age nothing more"
I nodded slowly. He was probably right. But they way it had said it felt so human.
I closed my eyes.
The image came without warning the photo from the rusted sedan the half burned photo a family smiling.
Pain detonated in my skull.I put my fingers on my temple.
"Don't" Silas said quietly.
I opened my eyes. He was watching me.
"You tried to remember the past didn't you" He said it wasn't a question.
"Old habits"